From the back:In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old – playing made-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places.But even her imaginative mind can’t shut out the realities ofher impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma. By turns achingly naïve and utterly pragmatic, Carrie has been shaped by the loss of her beloved daddy and by a drunken stepfather and her emotionally absent mother.Charting an astonishing course of survival for herself and Emma, she hopes to transform their lives into one more closely resembling the storybooks she treasures. But after the sisters’ plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn – and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.
By turns achingly naïve and utterly pragmatic, Carrie has been shaped by the loss of her beloved daddy and by a drunken stepfather and her emotionally absent mother. Charting an astonishing course of survival for herself and Emma, she hopes to transform their lives into one more closely resembling the storybooks she treasures.
But after the sisters’ plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn – and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.